Anne Marie Api, RIFM Vice President of Human Health Sciences, has been nominated to the independent scientific peer review panel being organized by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) to review the validation status of several recent modifications to the Murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA). ICCVAM originally reviewed the LLNA in 1998 and recommended that the LLNA could be used as a substitute for the traditional allergic contact dermatitis test method. ICCVAM also concluded that it reduces and refines animal use compared to traditional guinea pig testing. The LLNA was subsequently adopted by US and international regulatory authorities, and is now widely used. ICCVAM is considering several proposals for modifications and expanded use of the LLNA test method protocol. The panel will convene in a public meeting in March 2008.
With RIFM since 1984, Api has grown the human health safety program from routine short-term testing considerations to longer-term strategic methods and has been influential in implementing the group summary approach to fragrance ingredients. Api was instrumental in building the flavor and fragrance database into the unparalleled resource that it is today. Recently, Api has been a key developer of the dermal sensitization Quantitative Risk Assessment methodology, which will be used to frame future IFRA Standards. Prior to joining RIFM, Api was senior research biologist at Lever Research Inc., in Edgewater, NJ.